Sixteen and…
by Hane no Zaia
Summary: "O‒kay, o‒kay. Don't panic. We can still fix this." Or not. As it turns out, the reoccurring nausea, pain and mood swings weren't just because of stress. No one had ever claimed that being Alana 'Allen' Walker was easy. Somehow, she figured recent developments would make her life a whole lot harder.
1. Chapter 1

_So… this is a "_ _ **What if Allen Walker was a girl and accidentally got pregnant**_ _" scenario. Don't ask me how this fic came about, because I have no idea._

 **Last edited: April 7** **th** **2018**

-o0o-

"O‒kay, o‒kay. Don't panic. We can still fix this."

As a matter of fact, Allen knew about a whole number of ways to fix it. Or rather, she would have known about at least six of them, had she maybe discovered the nature of her condition a few months prior as opposed to now.

By now, it would be decidedly risky; question remained whether or not it would be any riskier than leaving it as it was.

"Damned if you do, damned if you don't, huh?" she scoffed, clutching her stomach.

The shadow of the Fourteenth offered up no response, looming over her reflection as ever. Barring that, there was only one person listening in, and she rather doubted they understood any of the words; the occasional kicks to her insides were just reflexes, not reactions to anything she might have said. "You're a real kicker, aren't you?"

Initially, she had blamed stress. Reoccurring nausea, pain and mood swings could after all be explained by A) her undeniably stressful and oftentimes perilous lifestyle, or B) her slow but inevitable transformation into the Fourteenth. Both did after all put a significant strain on her, physically as well as mentally. Granted, as far as the mental strain went, the suspicion and distrust from her comrades was really starting to take its toll.

Of course, should they ever learn about _this_ , then‒ Actually, Allen would rather not think about it, seeing that the mere thought made her want to throw up, and that would have been a waste of perfectly good food.

She had been eating more than usual, but no one had seemed to notice. Granted, there might have been a few comments about her gulping appetite for fish a few months back, but now‒

No one had ever claimed that being Alana 'Allen' Walker was an easy task. And somehow, she figured that recent developments would make her life a whole lot harder.

It had been said that knowing was half the battle. The problem, Allen privately supposed, was how to make it out of the second half.

Ironically as it might sound, Allen actually found herself missing Cross. The man might have been a bastard in his own right, but he had been the resourceful sort and would have known what to do.

But alas, Cross was‒ gone, presumably dead, considering the sheer amount of blood found at the scene.

Despite the fact that there had been no body, no proof besides the blood, Allen had not deluded herself with the hope that her mentor might still be alive. Instead she had puked in the sink before just hanging on to it for dear life, dry-heaving, her eyes stinging with tears.

Even Howard Link, the guard dog assigned to her by the Inspector from Central (Leverrier? Rouvelier? Lvellie? Something like that), who had always shown enough courtesy not to intrude on her in the bathroom, had sounded ready to kick down the door.

Fortunately, Allen had been able to pull her shit together long enough to avoid that. It had been by a slim margin, sure, but a margin was still a margin, no matter how slim, and general looks and behaviour aside, Allen was still physically a girl, and thus subject to Link's ideas about showing courtesy to the fairer sex.

Not that she minded or anything though. Granted, it could be annoying on occasion, but some consideration was better than no consideration at all, even if it meant a few carefully phrased inquiries about her health.

That said, most people didn't know. Most assumed that Allen Walker was a boy, voice still unbroken at the age of sixteen.

Now, roughly a year after joining the Order, Allen occasionally found herself wondering why more people hadn't noticed. More so, she wondered why a few of those already in the know hadn't spread the information around.

In hindsight, a lot of it might have been Komui's doing, at least in part. Because despite the man's general attitude towards paperwork, he retained a fiercely protective streak for not just Lenalee but also Allen, who was similar in age.

Besides, it had been Komui along with Bak who had stepped up to defend her back when Cross had allegedly given permission to have Link's superior go full-on Inquisition on Allen's arse after the Ark incident. Considering that, maybe‒

No, _no_. That would have been a stupid idea.

After all, if Allen did that, then certain questions would be inevitable. For example, the _when_ and the _where_ and the _**who**_. Frankly, all of them were questions that Allen would rather not answer. But the answer to the latter question would prove particularly difficult to provide.

Of course, Allen was acutely aware of the fact that she was only delaying the inevitable; if her own mental calculations were correct, then she had to be at least five or six months along. Maybe she had been an idiot for not noticing sooner, for not realising the underlying cause of her symptoms. Granted, her body had acted somewhat mutinously as far as the latter was concerned; it had done well in concealing the mound that was definitely there so long as one knew to look, and it had fooled everyone, Allen herself included.

By now however, it was only a question of time before someone figured out what was up. Heck, Link was the observant sort, so he might have figured it out already. Then again, if he had, then‒

"Walker."

Allen gave her reflection another weary look; she looked terrible, but‒ "Yeah?"

"Are you all right?"

Hah. "No worse than usual. Is it a mission?"

It was, and mounting fears aside, Allen felt glad about getting out of this place, if only for a couple of hours.

"I'll be out in a minute. I need to wash my face."

-o0o-


	2. Chapter 2

_**Edited April 7**_ _ **th**_ _ **2018.**_

-o0o-

There was definitely a word for this.

There most definitely had to be a word for this, somewhere, in some far or distant language, and it was right at the tip of her tongue, alongside the tang of blood and bile. Except… it wasn't a tang as much as it was a genuine taste with a staggering amount of pain to go along with it.

Cold sweat lay heavy on her brow, and she struggled to control her breathing, pressed up against the wall. Hyperventilating lay decidedly close at hand, but if Allen wanted to survive this, then she would have to use her brain and her remaining strength very wisely.

Left shoulder. Gunshot, bleeding profusely but not massively.

 _Put pressure on the wound_ , she blearily reminded herself. _Put a stop to the bleeding, get up,_ _ **fight**_ _._

Thankfully, her Innocence appeared to agree with this assessment, given how quickly it moved to seal the wound, much like it had sealed her heart back up way back when. _Don't stop_ , it seemed to tell her, _you're not done fighting yet._

And she wasn't, not by any means.

Allen got up and very nearly stumbled, feeling lightheaded. It was probably the blood loss, but Allen had definitely survived worse. Heck, she had dealt with far stronger opponents in the past and made it out, but this just served to show that even a relatively weak opponent could be a deadly one if you lowered your guard.

A nun with a gun was an excellent example of that.

Another round of shots impacted on the wall around the corner, and Allen experienced a sudden urge to curl up with her hands pressed against her ears and wait until it was all over. But she couldn't, because−

" _Hey! Let me go, you−!"_

The sister had more than just a gun; she had a hostage.

-o0o-

A few hours prior to this, things had been going surprisingly well. Or at least as well as any mission could go when she had been put on a team with Kanda (bad) and Marie (potentially catastrophic). You see, after determining the true cause of her condition, Allen had made a quick rundown of people that ought to be avoided, and these two had been among the top five: Kanda might not be the most intelligent person around, sure, but he still had keen instincts, and Marie, well−

Marie was blind, but even while knowing that, Allen could definitely feel his attention lingering upon her just a bit too long for it to be accidental. Because of that, Allen knew that he knew, and the careful but firm hand on her shoulder told her that he knew that she knew that he knew.

Truth to be told, Allen had been just about ready to throw up right then and there, even if her face showed little. Others must still have felt it though, because when she looked up, she had found Link frowning down at her.

But, through some miracle, Allen had managed to swallow the surge of fear and make it through the questioning. Marie had not said anything to Link, which meant that there was still time, and if Allen could convince Marie to keep it a secret, then all for the better.

Then there had been the loudmouthed little body snatcher who had knocked her over and nearly ruined everything, but if Allen only managed to save him, then he could hopefully be convinced as well.

And as for Kanda, Allen could only hope.

But first, survival.

-o0o-

Hiding behind the corner, Allen raked her mind for a solution that would not just be quick but also pose the least danger to Allen herself and to the people she was protecting. Because she really didn't have a lot of time; going by the sounds, Kanda and Marie were outside fighting, and Link, Link was‒

Allen swallowed.

That Level-Two certainly had a troublesome ability, and from a logical standpoint, Allen could definitely see why the Earl had sent it here. The Mother Superior, many of the orphans and Link had all fallen victim to its abilities, and Allen realised that she would have to be very careful, not just to avoid a similar fate, but also not to get any of them caught up in the fighting.

After all, there was really no telling as to what would happen if something were to happen to those ventriloquist dolls that had been people less than an hour prior.

Allen absentmindedly wondered whether or not she herself would be prosecuted in case they made it out of all this and the transformation could not be reversed.

Still, there was just one way to find out, wasn't there?

 _Help me out here_ , Allen thought. _Stretch, grab, pull back, okay?_

No response. Allen tried again, visualising. This time around, there was twinge, a hint of understanding.

"Okay…" She breathed in, out, in, and then held her breath for a moment. "Okay, let's do this."

She probably only had one shot to get it right. There was after all still the Level-Two to deal with.

Timothy Hearst, boy hostage.

Emilia Galmar, armed civilian.

Sister Turncoat, armed nun.

Akuma, among them the troublesome Level-Two.

Allen would have to take out the latter two, especially if she wanted to save the former two. There was no real time to go easy on the nun either, because if Allen didn't take her out quickly, others might be taken out permanently, Allen herself included.

"Okay, let's do this…" she whispered to herself. "Let's do this…"

-o0o-


	3. Chapter 3

_*rereads chapter 176 to 182*_

 _How can we make this situation even worse? Let me see…_

-o0o-

So, things had not gone exactly to plan. Sure, Allen had gotten both Timothy and Emilia out of the line of fire, if only after Emilia had managed to sustain a few gunshot wounds along the way. The woman seemed adamant though, believing it was possible to fight Akuma with bullets. But it was not, not unless your gun was called Judgement.

The fleeting thought proved painful, not just mentally but physically as well. It was fruitless too, really, because the dead could only do so much in a situation like this. Allen herself could do much more, provided she managed to stay alive, that is.

That said, it was not as though Allen had completely failed in her objectives; she had most certainly retrieved Timothy and Emilia alive, and the troublesome Level-Two had been taken out. But−

But then _another_ Level-Four had emerged. Another fucking Level-Four, in addition to the one Kanda and Marie were dealing with. A fucking Level-Four, like the one that had taken the exorcist generals, Allen, and Lenalee to defeat back when HQ had been invaded. And now Allen would simply have to make do, alone, while protecting a bunch of still petrified orphans, Link, and− Fuck, just _fuck_.

Allen must really have pissed off the Earl with her involvement in hijacking the Ark and destroying the Akuma Plant. Because that would certainly explain a thing or two, like how they had all been trapped in here and how the Earl had evidently taken steps to ensure that they would remain trapped, and rather specific measures at that. So yeah, this was definitely personal. The only thing missing was the Earl himself, or some Noah to act as his proxy. That said though, sending in not just one but _two_ Level-Fours, that was just overkill.

Thankfully, Kanda was strong, and Marie was not too bad either. Besides, the two of them had worked as a team before, so with a bit of luck, they could probably take down one of them. Of course, that still left the remaining one for Allen to deal with, but−

"But I can help! I just need to get−"

" _No."_

The kid looked ready to argue, but Allen was in no mood for it. She did not have the time or energy to deal with it either. Because sure, Allen understood perfectly well where Timothy was coming from, but even so, she could not allow him to put himself in harm's way any more than he already had.

Granted, Timothy had proven himself capable of possessing the troublesome Level-Two, greatly lightening the workload on Allen's shoulders, but there was no guarantee that the same trick would work on a Level-Three, much less on a Level-Four. In fact, Allen was fairly certain it would not.

Allen took a deep, steadying breath. "Stay here," she said. "Protect them. I'll do what I can to draw it away."

And to defeat it of course, but that went without saying, really.

-o0o-

That said, the Level-Four certainly fought dirty. To think that Allen would live to see the day that an enemy would use their actual teeth to rip the Sword of Exorcism out of her hand.

She had not exactly marvelled at the creativity though; separated from her weapon and finding herself ducking away from a shower of Akuma bullets, Allen had resorted to desperate measures. She had looked up and spotted her sword lying there behind the Level-Four, and sensing an opportunity, she had taken it, consequences be damned.

" _ **Come! Crown Clown!"**_

The Level-Four's startled expression as it was impaled from behind proved immensely satisfying. The satisfaction lasted only for so long however, because as she saw the sword rushing towards her, Allen experienced a sudden moment of clarity, followed by an influx of fear. And it was that fear that had her veering to the side, right before impact. It did her only a limited amount of good though.

" _Say, Exorcist…"_

Everything hurt. The Sword of Exorcism was supposed to harm only evil, yet it had most definitely cut her, embedding itself into her side. It felt a lot like betrayal, and as her invocation suddenly cancelled out, Allen wondered if the feeling was not mutual.

" _Say, Exorcist…"_ The Level-Four was before her now, wounded but disregarding it in favour of prodding her stomach, hard. _"What is this?"_

There was something about the tone, a certain lilt, and with the accompanying head tilt, it gave off a very childish impression. Only it was childish curiosity combined with a fair bit of power and cruelty.

Allen said nothing though, because it simply hurt too much. She could only struggle to keep breathing, her body spasming as another wave of agony washed over her. She had lost too much blood, and her body had gone into shock, and−

−And then she felt it, like a kick to the stomach, except from the inside and much worse, and she heard someone screaming, herself probably, and then, suddenly, everything was blissfully quiet again.

-o0o-

Allen woke up in the Medical Wing, to the sound of irate voices. It took her quite a while, but she eventually picked out on the voice of the Head Nurse and Link and−

Suddenly, she felt as though she was going to be violently sick. How she managed to summon the strength to roll over was anyone's guess, but the moment she was reasonably in the clear, she did not hold back.

"Allen!" someone called, just as Link called out "Walker!"

Allen did not really pay them much attention though, her eyes upon the black thing that had just come out of her. _Old blood_ , she thought blearily, just as their hands reached for her. _Internal haemorrhage_.

 _Well fuck_ , she concluded, moments before going back under.

-o0o-


	4. Chapter 4

┐(￣ー￣)┌ '┐(￣ヮ￣)┌

-o0o-

Allen might have never explicitly planned for this eventuality, but fact remained that she knew a thing or two or fifteen about pregnancies, and it was mostly thanks to a single woman.

The woman in question had never properly introduced herself, but Allen had a sneaking suspicion it might have just slipped her mind, seeing that the woman had been muttering curses over Cross at the time.

You see, when Allen had reached a certain age and had entered the thing otherwise known as puberty, there had been certain developmental changes to consider. And Cross, Cross had opted out of dealing with them altogether, dumping the responsibility onto a woman in one of the brothels he would frequent.

The woman in question had obviously disapproved of how Cross had handled, or rather not handled, the whole situation.

"Listen to me now, lassie." She had grabbed Allen by the shoulders and leaned in, lowering her voice. "From now on, this will happen about once a month, and it's completely natural. You might feel a bit sick at first, but there are remedies for that. If it stops, now that's when you should worry. Sure, things will be a bit irregular at first. Stress and poor nutrition can also affect it. But… if you've been with a man and it suddenly stops, that's _bad_."

At the time, Allen might not have been completely ignorant as to what happened in places like the brothel, but− "So as long as I never…?"

The woman's expression had darkened visibly. At the time, Allen had wondered if the woman was cross with her, not worried on her behalf. "Accidents happen," the woman had said, shaking her head. "Also, the world is full of bad men, and if you keep travelling with that man, then you'll be certain to encounter more than a few. But, even then, there are ways. However, the longer you wait, the riskier it gets."

And she had been right, in so many ways.

" _If you feel it moving, that means you're already past the halfway point. You might still be able to get rid of it then, but after that…"_

Feeling new kicks to her insides, Allen lifted her gaze to her reflection. The shadow of the Fourteenth seemed even darker now, as if it was becoming more solid over time.

"Walker."

Link was lurking. He might have been subtle about it, but he was definitely lurking.

Things had been understandably tense since Paris, tense and surprisingly unresolved.

You see, Allen had more or less expected to be facing the Inquisition the moment they were sure she would not die, or a harsh interrogation à la Central at the very least. Instead, she had gotten Komui's office, Komui, Bak, Komui's new secretary, Link, Komui's worried disapproval, Bak's shocked surprise, Link's disapproving disapproval, and finally, the Head Nurse of all people.

"Y-y-you're _pregnant_? But how?!" Bak had looked just about ready to break into hives; he had really just turned up at headquarters to yell at some posh-looking woman, but at this point, he seemed to have forgotten all about that. "B-b-b-but who? _When_?"

Unable to face any of them, Allen had averted her gaze. Even so, she had remained keenly aware of the disappointment and disapproval directed her way.

Allen had fully expected to get carted off to Central after that.

Instead, she had found herself temporarily pulled from the roster and sent back to her room like some petulant child while the adults figured out how to deal with her. It had probably not been intended like that, at least not from all participants, but−

Link had confronted her later on, in private.

"Walker. When did you find out?" he had asked, and Allen, Allen had readily admitted when, but had scarcely managed to get another word in before Link pressed on. "Why didn't you inform me?" he had snapped. "Walker!"

And Allen, Allen had not held back. "I was scared, okay! Fucking _terrified_ , all right?! And don't give me some damned line that I should've trusted you or whatever. Your boss wanted me tried before the Inquisition just a short while ago! And knowing what this place has done to people in the past, how could I assume this would be any different?"

She had actually managed to shock him into silence, at least for a bit, but− "I was fucking terrified, okay? And frankly, I don't even know which prospect scared me the most. I just−"

She had started crying about then, with Link standing there with a strange look of almost helplessness. "Link, could you… just turn around for a bit? I don't−"

It must have been the hormones.

"Walker…"

It had to have been.

"Walker, you need to calm down."

 _Easy for him to say_ , she had thought.

But now she was calm again. A bit more resigned to her fate, perhaps. At the same time though, Allen was scared, and what she had said to Link earlier was just as true now as it was back then. She was uncertain of which prospect scared her the most; them experimenting on her child, them experimenting on her or being pulled from the frontlines of a war they could not win without her.

Granted, the latter had already happened, but−

But−

"Walker."

Allen looked up.

Link was still standing there, lurking just outside the bathroom. Allen absentmindedly wondered if the man was even aware of just how fucking creepy that was. "Link, Timcanpy," she acknowledged, because the golem was riding on top of Link's shoulder. "Do you mind?"

Smiling, she slammed the door shut into their faces and locked it. Then she put up her middle finger at the Fourteenth's reflection for good measure before pulling off her clothes and stepping into the shower.

-o0o-


End file.
